Calling Our People Home event, May 16/24 (image credit - CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

ADDICTIONS SUPPORT

Calling Our People Home aims to support anybody struggling with addiction and homelessness

May 16, 2024 | 5:30 PM

KAMLOOPS — Before the heavy winds and rain put a serious damper on the morning, the Bonaparte First Nation was set up in Riverside Park for their second annual Calling Our People Home event.

“So many of our people are out here right now who have lost their ways,” said organizer and Health and Wellness Officer with Bonaparte First Nation Danny Kennedy. “And that is kind of what we are here to do today. We want to show them through ceremony, through song, drumming, healing, they can come back and get over this addiction spirit they have got into right now.”

Last year, the event aided in two people getting sober, while also providing supplies and food to countless others.

“We want those people to know who are out there suffering with the addictions, whether they are on the streets or in their houses, that you have value. You are loved and we are here for you,” said Kennedy. “We really need to embrace a different model than what we are doing to help our people out. Right now, we are putting a Band-Aid on a wound that needs surgery. We are not doing the right steps to help with this toxic drug crisis that we are in.”

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In addition to haircuts and clothes, those struggling with addiction were able to potentially receive a free 30-day treatment stay with Red Road Recovery.

“People with barriers, they live hour-by-hour, day-by-day and when they feel that they have been rejected they don’t come back,” said Wesley Francois, partner in Red Road Recovery. “Once you harness them, you have to move heaven and earth to make it happen for them. That is what we do at Red Road.”

While the initiative was put on by the Bonaparte First Nation, it was targeting at anybody in the community struggling with their own battles.

“They lose at lot of their self esteem, all of their hopes and dreams kind of get slowly drawn out of them and then they become part of the stew pot, the mixing pot, and every time you mix that pot we are losing people,” said Steve Basil, Cultural Enrichment Worker.

While the event was forced to pack up early as tree branches came down around them and tents got destroyed, it’s the message of hope and challenging the stigma that Kennedy hopes persists

“People have a really narrow-minded view when it comes to those people who are suffering and their addictions that they are bad people. But they are all suffering from a trauma we know nothing about. A chance for the public to come down and better understand those who are suffering in the toxic drug crisis,” said Kennedy.

Calling Our People Home will be hitting the streets over the next few weeks to ensure all the donations they’d hoped to give out on Thursday can be given out to those in need.